DefinePK

Abstract

The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) enforces an “obligation on all member countries to protect plant varieties either by patents or by a sui generis regime or by a combination of both”. Pakistan adopted the “sui generis choice” to give protection to plant varieties. The rights of commercial breeders are protected under the present legal regime, and further, it gives positive rights to farmers. It also goes “beyond the widely recognized international sui generis regime represented by the International Union for the Protection of Plant Varieties” (UPOV). In compliance with international obligations, Pakistan passed the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2016. This research paper discusses the new legislation and highlights its features and gaps. Further, to what extent the PBR Act can bring together Pakistan’s conflicting obligations under “the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), The Cartagena Protocol on Bio-safety (CPB), and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA)”?